The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-05-27

faith in themselves and ability to take care
Of themselves, and this sobers them and
renders them shrewder and more practical
in Judgment.
By liy ing and working with men young
women grow accustomed to them, lose
their sentimental and romantic notions OF
the other sex and gradually begin to judge
men on their merits, apart from one
another. The girl of the old regime saw
only men with parlor manners, and every
one knows that silly and weak fellows
often outshine good and shrewd ones in
society. But in business these women see
men as they are, in their natural every day
aspects, and they rate them according to
the best of their power to Judge Of charac-
ter. 1t is Miss Seymour's experience that
the young ladies in business marry in the
same proportion as girls in the homes of
the city, and she thinks they are apt to
marry better, not only because they are
better able to select husbands, but for
other reasons.
These other reasons are important. In
the first place, she says truly, that domes-
tic trouble is, next TO drink, the greatest
afflicticn of modern life. She finds that
the man who marries a girl capable of self
support is almost certain to respect her
and treat her well. He cannot say to her
as husbands of helpless girls can: "You
are dependent on me; | hold your bread
and butter in my hands" He knows he
does not, and she knows she does not. She
will not suffer abuse or disrespeet, for she
is confident that she made her W way
once and she can make it again. Hap
piness lasts while mutual respect con-
tinues.
But what is the effect on the man? is the
natural thought. In what way is a woman
affected !? What does the husband get on
his side? In what respect are wives i'm
proved?
Another very interesting talk on thesub-
ject was had with Mr.. jerome B. Wheeler,
one of the firm of r. II. Macy & Co. the
largest employers of women in New York.
He has given the consequences of the FEM
mime revolution much thought-and by the
way these large stores like his have felt
the revolution very deeply. In the largest
of those stores in Brooklyn and New York
it has always been the rule for the women
to wait Oh the counter and the men to do
The more responsible work OF managing
and buying.
To-day this is changed and nearly all the
buyers are women. In Mays even the
cashier is a woman; the superintendent in
charge of all the employees, 1000 or3,0Oo
in all, is a woman. Some reader may
toss his head and say that this is because
women can be got cheaper than men. I
suspect that is so, but after all that is a
triile in viewing the subject trile like a
speek of dust in the tense of an opera glass
through which we view a drama. The
fact that women are holding these positions
is enough for the present. To hold them
they must be fit to do the work, and they
are doing it in the most gigantic trading es-
Establishments in America. They have pos
session-which is nine points in the law.
Competition exists or must arise between
them and between their employers. The
increase of wages must naturally follow
whether the heads of the establishments
like it or no. But women's wages are not
so bad. The typewriters and steno-
graphers earn from SO to S25 a week; the
wages of the girls and women in the shop
ping stores range from s. to $25, The big
gest woman's tailor in New York and Lon
don pays the young woman who designs
drapery and braiding for his customers $50
a week.
Mr.. Wheeler says that W omen who work
for him marry in the same proportion as
women of the same classes who remain at
home. But his girls marry better. That
is his experience and their belief. He says
that the training and discipline the women
get in a great store better fits them for the
management ola home thar home training;
it makes them self reliant, practical, broad
minded. steady, sober. 1t rids them of the
adult infantility of the petted daughter at
home, of the frivolity and helplessness and
of that abnormal sentimentality that
leaves so many girls a prey to the vicious.
It is surprising, he says, to note how a
business career broadens the minds of
young women in directions that it is no
easy to account for. Why they should read
the news Of the day and discuss it: why
being a counter girl should cause a woman
who never thought of sueh things before TO
interest herself in public affairs, he does
not know; but that this is the effect on
these girls he has observed a thousand
times. He says he feels very certain that
the moral tone of women is raised and
strengthened by business experience.
In eight years, among the many thou
sand of his female employees, he has not
known of a single case OF the ruin of a
work girl By a man in the employ OF the
concern. One young woman went astray,
and her parents suspected that some as
sociate in the store must have been her be-
trayer. Mr.. Wheeler Investigated the
case. The girl had disappeared. All the
men in the store were detailed to search the
city, which was mapped out for the work.
The girl was found and brought to Mr..
Wheeler, to whom she confessed that her
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